Bio
Vanessa Eagerton was born in August 1982 in San Francisco, California. The daughter of a Scottish father and Chinese mother, Vanessa grew up surrounded by different cultures and experiences. She began playing piano at the age of 6, which expanded to flute, guitar, and saxophone. She began private art lessons at the age of 11.
Vanessa received her Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from California Polytechnic State University.
As a result of her father’s encouragement to pursue an advanced degree in art, she enrolled in illustration classes. After taking figure and portrait painting for the first time in 2009, she fell in love with the subject matter and began to paint and draw her family and friends. Vanessa finds pleasure in pulling out the unique details in each of her portraits and practices a modern twist on the traditional portrait. She is currently working towards her MFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Vanessa’s current series introduces her family and friends to the world by means of oil, charcoal, pastel, and digital painting mediums. The dramatic lighting and limited color palettes create an air of intimacy and work to draw the viewer in.